


shaking the wings of their terrible youths

by kimwonpil



Series: i wanna be myself, i don't care [5]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: (for about 2 seconds), Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Flashbacks, Fluff, Han Jisung | Han is a Little Shit, Hurt/Comfort, Hwang Hyunjin-centric, Necromancer Hwang Hyunjin, Necromancy, Neglect, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Hwang Hyunjin, Other, Protective Bang Chan, Seo Changbin Being an Asshole, Slow Burn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, felix is only really mentioned, hyunjin uses she/her pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:29:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26303461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimwonpil/pseuds/kimwonpil
Summary: For so long, the world had been against Hyunjin. They'd told her that she wouldn't belong,didn'tbelong for as long as she would live. For Hyunjin didn't have a soulmate, instead she raised the dead and told their tales, the curse tethering her to the earth only just.Then Changbin arrived on her doorstep, and everything changed.
Relationships: Bang Chan/Han Jisung | Han, Hwang Hyunjin/Seo Changbin
Series: i wanna be myself, i don't care [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646098
Comments: 14
Kudos: 49





	1. of beginnings and new found friendships

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Raiken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raiken/gifts).



> felix is starting yet another wip without finishing their other ones~ but it's fine because this has been in my google docs for literal months, stewing away, and i'm actually quite proud of the outcome! i love soulmate aus and i wanted to write a small deviation from the norm so i'm adding in necromancy/ghosts because i love those too. 
> 
> this was originally supposed to be short and posted during pride month (hence nonbinary hyunjin) but i kinda got ahead of myself and the second part will be posted soon enough!
> 
> and so now this is a birthday gift for raiken, you've been so kind and friendly to me these past few months and i'm really glad we started talking ^-^ i hope you have an amazing day!
> 
> and to everyone else, enjoy the fic and stay safe!! :D
> 
> (title is taken from angel of small death and the codeine scene by hozier)

_“_ _Hwang Hyunjin you get back here this instant!”_

_The voice rang out like a gunshot, words echoing and reverberating off the alleyway as Hyunjin sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her. Her whole body was caked in soot and ash, shadows dripping off her as she slid into motion and off into the night._

_Another shout of her name sent her falling to her knees, Hyunjin couldn't run from this, she realised. For although her trainer was a terrible person, a man who felt he was above the law, he was the only person who would even look her in the eye._

_“Glad to see you know your place, come back home sweetheart.” He said with a venomous bite, Hyunjin's stomach rolling and bile threatening to rise in her throat. Home? This hell wasn't a home. People like her didn't have one of those._

_Home was a place for people with soulmates, a sanctuary for those who had another half waiting right there for them. But when Hyunjin was born with no numbers on her wrist, her right to a home was taken away from her by Fate's cold grip._

_“Don't try and run again, you know I don't like people that don't follow the rules.”_

_“I know.” She whispered, spirit broken. For without a home there was no point to break the rules, there was no point to running if there was no one there to catch her when she inevitably fell._

_The walk back was quiet and long, Hyunjin had run for a while, through back streets and dim pathways that lined the shady end of town. It was a paradise for those who wished to be free, for although Fate meant safety, Fate also meant being bound to another. Some here took the numbers off their wrists, some chose to ignore them completely. Hyunjin thought they were annoying fucks, every last one of them. She would do anything to take their place. Instead, her life had become a nightmare, the world only existed in grey and neon lights._

_For those who were born without soulmates, the world enjoyed pretending as if they simply did not exist. Hyunjin had no permanent shelter, no family, no hope. Instead she was brought up with a curse hanging over her head, a sign of her status in the society which scoffed as she walked on by._

_The curse had a name too, something which used to drive fear into the hearts of humans, now only brought about indifference._

_Necromancy._

_“Get in, kid.” Came the gruff voice of the man Hyunjin had to rely on, she’d been in his care for almost six years. But care was a very nice way of putting it. She stepped past the threshold, removing herself from the outside world and back into the dim apartment, shrugging off her coat and placing it on the rack. Hyunjin found herself moving towards the couch, curling up and ignoring any conversation attempt as she closed her eyes._

_Before she could fall asleep, she heard their voices, felt the wisps of energy flicker around the room. Ghosts not only invaded her dreams, they followed her every waking move too._

  
It was the third ring of her doorbell that woke Hyunjin from her fitful sleep, the girl tossing and turning as her face scrunched up in discomfort. Another nightmare, one of days long past where she still lived with that awful man, where she had run away one too many times and he had eventually grown bored of her games, throwing her onto the street with a silent, devilish grin. That was so long ago now, Hyunjin had grown, but her memories had apparently not.

“I’m coming, stop ringing!” She called out as the doorbell rang a fourth time, groaning in annoyance as she dragged herself out of bed, shrugging on a baggy t-shirt to match the sweatpants that were several sizes too big. 

What Hyunjin had been expecting to find waiting for her at the door was her landlord, pondering as she walked as to whether she'd simply forgotten to pay rent that month? But she was sure she had paid only recently, surely another four weeks hadn't gone by already? What Hyunjin hadn't expected to find was a man, who looked around her age in his face but was a good few inches shorter than she was, staring up at her with a fierce look of determination.

“Are you Hwang Hyunjin?” He asked firmly, Hyunjin's sleep ridden brain soon clearing up as she cleared her throat.

“Yes, that would be me, and you are?”

“Seo Changbin, I found your ad online and I was wondering if you had an appointment?”

Hyunjin blinked a few times, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to figure out if she was actually free. Normally she would turn people like Changbin down right away, simply because he seemed unfriendly, but all of her regular customers were on holiday apparently and that left a big gap in her vacancies.

“Uhm… Sure, you can come in now if you'd like? I'll just get changed but you can take a seat and help yourself to some biscuits.” Hyunjin rambled and opened the door fully, instead of tucking herself away behind the wood. Changbin wandered inside and politely slid off his shoes, using the slippers that Hyunjin kept there for guests as if he had been here a million times before.

Hyunjin quickly showed Changbin through to the living room, it was a modest space but was cosy enough to feel homely. Her guest got seated and soon began to munch on a chocolate biscuit that he'd found; Hyunjin wondered if Changbin was this easygoing in all aspects of his life, or just with mysterious strangers he only knew about through online adverts?

Changing clothes was easier said than done in Hyunjin's apartment. She opened the closet and pulled out a skirt and another hoodie, this was just in pastel and everything was completely fine. What wasn't fine was turning around to come face to face with a floating figure, staring her down like no tomorrow. 

Hyunjin yelped and prayed that Changbin hadn't heard, glaring right back up at the intruder.

“Jisung what the heck are you doing here?” She hissed at the apparition, Jisung only giggling and floating over towards Hyunjin's bed where he pretended to sit down.

“That doesn't answer my question you idiot… I have a guest, you know the rules about guests—”

“Yeah yeah, no appearing when there's guests around or Hyunjin will give you the silent treatment, I get it.” Jisung said with a lazy wave of his hand, not paying attention to Hyunjin as she quickly changed her outfit.

“Good, then disappear. Don't you have Chan to annoy or something?” She asked and raised her brow, Jisung only rolling his eyes, leaving Hyunjin to only guess what sort of lovers quarrel they'd had this time.

But Jisung did disappear nonetheless, his form vanishing into thin air and leaving Hyunjin alone once again. Well, alone with Changbin.

Hyunjin often had many ghosts in her apartment, but they were almost always summoned by her, the remnants and fractals or humans who had left this mortal plane.

She contacted such spirits and helped those with soulmates to connect with their dead loved ones. In some ways, it was sweet, especially her regular customers who came to joke and catch up with their partners. But in other ways it only served to make Hyunjin feel even more isolated. Her job mocked her just as the world did.

Jisung was a special case. He and his soulmate, Chan, had died a hundred years prior after the police had raided their local speakeasy in New York and they’d both been caught in the fray of a shoot out. Both of the ghosts had been summoned by Hyunjin when she was training and they’d become attached to her rather quickly, hanging around and appearing randomly when they believed her to be lonely. It was nice, at first, when she’d found her own apartment and needed the company. They’d accepted her lack of soulmate and set about trying to give her dating advice, although she’d never taken it to heart.

Hyunjin slowly wandered towards the living room, mulling over what to say to her guest, just in case Changbin had heard what had happened in the bedroom. Jisung was definitely not going to be getting a smidge of her attention if he had.

But thankfully, Changbin was clearly oblivious, having eaten probably half of the packet of biscuits in Hyunjin's absence. She sat across from her potential customer and watched him finish off another of her snacks before he met her gaze, waiting for her to speak.

“Well, Changbin, what do you wish to get out of my services? I must warn you that I don't engage in any foul play, if you are here simply to damn your soulmate to hell then I'm afraid I don't want to help you.” Hyunjin said with a thin smile, Changbin seemingly unphased as he shrugged and sat back comfortably.

“I don't want to smite them, don't worry. I just want to… See them? I uhm, I never got the chance.”

_Oh. He's one of those people._

Hyunjin sighed and ran a hand over her face, trying to figure out what to say in reply. She couldn't help someone like Changbin, that wasn't how this worked. Maybe her advert needed updating? She hated to turn people down but things like this just weren't something anyone, even the most skilled of necromancers, was able to do.

“I'm so sorry Changbin, but I can't help you. I can't help you meet a soulmate you never saw. It's the connection between your souls and that bond you share that helps me to bring their ghost here. Even if you knew everything about them, I couldn't help if you never saw each other in person.” Hyunjin's voice was solemn as she sat back, the words sinking into the room, heavy as lead.

Changbin seemed to be in shock, if the way his shaking hands were anything to go by, gripping onto the hem of his jacket until his knuckles turned white.

But then, instead of his words coming out meek and saddened like Hyunjin had expected they would, Changbin shouted.

“No! You said you could help, the advert said you'd help! I don't care if I never met him, Felix was all I had! You better let me see him!” Changbin roared, flying out of his seat and crowding into Hyunjin's space, face red and eyes glassy.

“I can't help you, I'm so sorry but I'm not gifted enough—”

“Then get better! I don't care what it takes, my soulmate was ripped from me before I could see him, you wouldn't understand.” Changbin spat, leaning back as he began to pace across the room, fists clenched.

He was right though. Hyunjin wouldn't understand. That was just the way the world worked and she knew that, Changbin needn't have reminded her of the life Fate had so cruelly dealt into her hands.

“I want you to leave Changbin.” Was what she managed to say, voice made of steel as she gestured towards the door.

“But you have to help me!” Changbin was back to shouting but this time his voice cracked at the edges and the tears began to flow. Hyunjin knew the face that Changbin wore, it was just like so many others that she hadn't been able to help, the face of a broken human. A face just like her own.

“I can't, I need you to understand that, Changbin. I appreciate that you came to me for help but for me to even attempt that would be threatening both of our lives.” Hyunjin spoke softly in the presence of the ever-raging Changbin, opening the door herself as Changbin strode towards it.

There weren't any more words exchanged, simply feet pattering as Changbin rushed to leave. He ran down the hall and out of the building before Hyunjin had realised, standing there in her doorway with tears in her own eyes.

She wasn't good enough, no matter how many years of teaching she had endured, it still wasn't enough.

Hyunjin ignored Jisung and Chan as they appeared in front of her path, weaving between their forms as she went back into her room. The rest of the day would pass in silence, save for the light wisps of ghosts entering and leaving her desolate plane of existence.

  
That should have been the last time Hyunjin would see Changbin, but Fate seemed to work in her usual mysterious ways. Hyunjin thought it was rather annoying.

“Hyunjin… Is that you?” A meek voice asked one day when Hyunjin was trudging around her local convenience store in the late hours of the evening, picking up snacks and pots of ramen and looking like the living dead.

(Chan found that expression rather ironic, ghosts quite literally existed, why did people have to talk about zombies all the time instead?)

“Huh?” Hyunjin voiced as she turned around to face whoever was tapping on her back, scowling as she saw that it was Changbin. Wonderful, this was absolutely perfect. Hyunjin was well aware that she looked incredibly disheveled, she was surprised that Changbin had even been able to pick her out at all from amongst the crowds of people milling inside the store. It was never normally this busy at almost midnight but there seemed to be some sort of festival going on around the city, Hyunjin wasn’t one to keep in tune with trends however, so she had no real idea.

“Nice to see you too, do you need some help there?” Changbin said, gesturing to the pile of food in Hyunjin’s arms since she’d neglected to pick up a basket in the entrance. Hyunjin could only nod as she placed the ramen packets and box of biscuits into Changbin’s own basket, not bothering to ask whether she could use it, she was too tired for that.

“So why are you here and why are you helping me? I thought we weren’t exactly on… Good terms?” Hyunjin asked with a huff, eyes still narrowed as she trudged after Changbin who was making his way to the aisle with all the ice cream and frozen desserts. He placed two tubs into his basket before speaking.

“Well, I’m here because I need food, like you. I’m helping you cause you look exhausted and because what happened a few weeks ago wasn’t very nice of me, so I’m making it up to you now.” Changbin said simply, as if that would somehow placate a still very wary Hyunjin, the man’s intentions seemed to be rather vague. Hyunjin wasn’t used to people being nice.

But Changbin had been right, the last few weeks had been truly exhausting and draining, filled with appointments left and right without a chance to breathe until her head hit the pillow at night. Even then, her dreams were filled with shadows of the past, dead spirits calling her and begging to be set free. It was never ending and Hyunjin could only hope she could take a break soon.

“I see. Well, thank you, I guess?” Hyunjin’s words were guarded and she knew Changbin had caught on to her hesitance as he turned to look back at her once again.

“I promise this is just me being nice, I don’t have a weird, ulterior motive or anything. Plus, I’m lonely and seeing everyone out with their soulmates is just depressing so I thought you could use the company too.” Changbin smiled and then moved to get into the queue to pay, Hyunjin trailing after him since the man had all of her snacks.

It twigged then, as she stood in line that it must be the New Lovers Festival, an event held the world over once a year to celebrate those who had found their soulmates in the last twelve months. As always, it was held on the first weekend of August, the hot summer heat crawling over her skin making Hyunjin more uncomfortable than enamoured with the festival. 

“Wait, Changbin, shouldn’t I pay for my stuff?” She asked quietly once Changbin had started handing over items to the cashier who looked just as tired as Hyunjin was, if not even more so. Changbin could only shake his head and smile over at her, getting out his wallet and handing over the correct amount of cash.

“Think of this as an ‘I’m sorry’ gift, it was really rude of me to not listen to you the other week, I should’ve realised what I said was wrong.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, taking the bag of food and wandering out the shop with Hyunjin trailing a few paces behind him.

The night was in full swing as Hyunjin walked along with Changbin, fireworks exploding into an array of colours somewhere ahead of them, couples and groups of friends having picnics and drinking the evening away on the banks of the river. Hyunjin once wished she could join them, when she was young and naive and unaware of what the world had in store for her. She noticed that Changbin’s eyes were shining underneath the streetlights, unshed tears lining his lashes. Hyunjin couldn’t understand the depth of his pain but she knew what it felt like on the surface nonetheless, that hollow, empty feeling as you peered around at a world you could not be a part of but were always so close to.

Changbin was a few hundred metres from Hyunjin’s apartment when he finally moved to look at her once again, clearing his throat as they stopped at the crossroads. Down one path was the park that Hyunjin went to escape the stuffy confines of her apartment, another road led deep into the city and the final one led to her home. A more accurate description would be the flat she had to share with two rowdy ghosts that never learned to act their age, which was about one hundred and twenty years old if Hyunjin’s research was correct.

“It’s just down here, you don’t have to take me there though.” Hyunjin said with a fragile laugh, feeling a bit awkward around Changbin considering all that had happened between them.

“But what if I want to?” Changbin retorted, laughing to himself as Hyunjin all but gawked at him.

“O-Okay, I mean… Some company would be nice.” She hummed, leading Changbin to the right of the crossroads and off towards her apartment, cooing at some kids who rushed past with their parents towards the glowing festival. “I can’t believe they’re letting kids stay up this late nowadays, when I was that young I had to be in bed by eight.” Hyunjin said softly, words melting into the humid air as she rummaged in her pocket for the key card to get into the building.

Once she’d located the key card, Hyunjin let them inside, leading Changbin towards the stairs since the elevator was once again broken - a regular occurrence in her often busy apartment building. It was eerily quiet today however, a stark reminder of the events that were happening beyond the confines of the brick walls, Hyunjin could only bitterly smile at the thought that she could never be involved in the festivals that were eagerly awaited with each passing season.

“Here we are.” Hyunjin said, pushing in the string of numbers into her keypad and hearing the tell tale click of the door unlocking. What she hadn’t expected was to be greeted by two shadowy figures loudly conversing in the hallway of her apartment.

“—Channie oh my god! You can’t just say that, Hyunjin would kill you!”

“But it’s the truth Jisung! Also, I’m already dead, you idiot.” Chan deadpanned and Hyunjin could only scoff, that was until she remembered she had company, turning around to find Changbin wide eyed and gawking at the scene in front of him.

Things seemed to happen in slow motion after that, Hyunjin was tempted to roll her eyes at how cliche the moment panned out. Changbin was about to rush out of the apartment, scrambling to leave but was stopped by Chan disappearing from his place in the hallway and reappearing right in front of an unsuspecting Changbin. And then, in perfectly dramatic glory, Changbin fainted, crumpling to the floor.

“Well fuck.” Jisung whispered from behind Hyunjin’s shocked figure.

“Well fuck indeed.” Hyunjin echoed back before going to pick up Changbin, wondering why exactly Fate hated her this much?

  
Changbin woke up to the world being the wrong way round, or at least that was what it felt like. There was a figure floating directly above his face, translucent and shimmering in the dim lights of the room. For a second, Changbin panicked, trying to push the person away but his hands seeped through their form as if it was air and Changbin was just about ready to faint all over again when Hyunjin’s voice reached his ears.

“Chan, please stop scaring Changbin, he’s a friend.” She deadpanned and Changbin could almost hear her roll her eyes as he propped himself up on his elbows in order to get a better look at his surroundings. He realised that this was Hyunjin’s living room, the events of the last few hours creeping back up to him as he looked around at everything. That was when he noticed the dim light leaking into the room was sunlight, mouth hanging open as he wondered just how long he’d been out for.

“How long was I asleep?” Changbin asked, voice quiet as he continued to stare at the floating figure who had since moved to be closer to Hyunjin and was still looking at him with a chilling glare.

“Almost seven hours, Chan here watched you the whole time.”

“What the heck even is he?”

“Rude…” The person from beside Hyunjin grumbled, causing Hyunjin to giggle and sit up straighter in her chair, the girl having obviously been asleep if the way her messy hair and rumpled clothes were anything to go by.

“Chan here, is a ghost.” She said simply and shrugged her shoulders, Changbin dumbly nodding as if those words were any sort of consolation. Thankfully, Hyunjin didn’t seem to be done with her explanation quite yet.

“When I was trained to be a necromancer I managed to summon Chan, and Jisung who you saw earlier too, they’re soulmates from one hundred years ago and now they won’t leave me alone.” Hyunjin ended with a short glance in Chan’s direction, the ghost scoffing and sticking his tongue out childishly at Hyunjin.

“You’re basically the only good company we have, everyone else that’s tried to summon us was just mean or like that dude you used to live with, a huge asshole.” Chan sighed and then noticed the look Changbin was giving him, something akin to naive curiosity and the corners of his lips quirked up again. Maybe he could have some fun with this kid? But not right now, he’d promised Hyunjin he’d stay hidden for a while and so he quickly disappeared, leaving the human pair alone.

“Well… I still don’t really understand what’s going on here. But Chan seems nice.” Changbin said with a small smile, as if he was some sort of self-appointed guardian for Hyunjin all of a sudden. She didn’t comment on that however, deciding to indulge Changbin as she got up to her feet.

“Do you fancy some breakfast? You’re probably starving and I don’t want you fainting again.” Hyunjin said and cocked her head to the side, Changbin nodding wordlessly in reply and Hyunjin quickly moved to the kitchen, putting two pieces of bread into the toaster.

“I feel like,” Hyunjin began, wringing her hands together as she wandered over to the fridge, searching for the butter and pulling out a jug of water too. “Maybe we should do introductions again? Last time was rushed and, admittedly, not the best.” She chuckled and scratched the back of her head as she regarded Changbin, the other seemingly on board with the idea as he nodded.

“Sure, I’ll go first I guess. My name’s Seo Changbin, I’m twenty-one and I work as a music teacher, mainly teaching piano but I also teach the kids how to compose.” Changbin spoke with the biggest smile Hyunjin had seen on the man, returning the warm gesture with a smile of her own.

“That’s so sweet, I couldn’t have imagined you as a teacher if you’d told me that a few weeks back but now I can see it.” Hyunjin said with a quiet hum, Changbin still smiling as he wordlessly urged her to give her own introduction. “Well, I’m Hwang Hyunjin, I’m twenty and I work as a necromancer. I’m also nonbinary, just in case you were wondering.” Hyunjin’s voice trailed off at the end, motioning down to the skirt she was wearing with a tight lipped expression, praying to whatever was up there that Changbin would react okay.

“Oh! That’s cool with me, what about your pronouns? I don’t want to mess them up.”

“I usually go by she/her, but I’ll tell you if it changes.” Hyunjin said and found herself letting out all of the pent up tension in her body, relaxing as Changbin did the same. It felt freeing, to be in the presence of someone that understood you without a qualm; despite their rocky start, maybe it could all be okay between Hyunjin and Changbin?

The contented silence was snapped in half as the toast popped up and Hyunjin sprung into action to prepare the snack. She would have offered Changbin something much more filling to eat had she known how to cook, Chan and Jisung often lamented that she’d be joining them in the ghost world soon enough if she kept consuming take away food. But Hyunjin couldn’t help it, pizza and fried chicken tasted good and therefore she was going to keep eating it.

By the time the toast had been buttered and she’d returned to the living room, the sun was well and truly up, filtering through the curtains and casting a warm glow over the space as she pushed a plate of food over to Changbin. The elder accepted it graciously and they both ate in near silence, no ghosts disturbing them and nothing felt awkward. It gave Hyunjin time to think, her thoughts floating around her brain as she tried desperately to sort through them all, get them back into line.

Currently, in her very own living room, was a man who had not backed off at the first opportunity. Sure, their first meeting had not been splendid, but rarely did Hyunjin’s acquaintances return a second time to make things right. Hyunjin was much more used to doors being slammed and curses being exchanged, but since yesterday Changbin had been nothing but warm. The harsh words of her old mentor still rattled around in the back of her mind, telling her that everything would go wrong in due time, however Hyunjin decided to ignore them, just this once.

“Thanks for the food.” Changbin said and set his plate down on the coffee table, wiping away some crumbs from the corner of his lips using his sleeve. It was rather endearing, Hyunjin had to admit, however the thought of laughter and teasing from Chan and Jisung stopped her thoughts from progressing any further.

“It's not a problem, thanks for keeping me company. And I really am sorry, about the ghosts I mean, both Chan and Jisung… And your soulmate.” Hyunjin spoke the words quietly, barely even a breath away from being a whisper, but the silence of the early morning meant Changbin didn't miss a thing.

So yes, maybe this would all go okay? Changbin's smile was still just as bright as he started to make a move to leave, writing his phone number down and passing the sheet of paper to Hyunjin with the promise of seeing her again.

Hyunjin had a friend, or at least she hoped she did. Letting Changbin back into her life had been a great idea after all.

“—This is a _terrible_ idea!” Chan screeched as soon as the door was closed and locked, Hyunjin turning tail with a scoff and walking right through his ghostly form as she wandered back into her apartment. Chan gawked as he watched her go, not used to Hyunjin ignoring him, especially when he was loud - normally that was Jisung's job.

“You can't start seeing Changbin! I don't trust him and I don't like him.” Chan sounded like a petulant child and Hyunjin could do nothing but roll her eyes as she went into her room and sat on the edge of her bed.

“Chan, I get you're protective over me or whatever but you only just met the guy! At least give Changbin a chance… Also I'm not _seeing_ him, we're just friends.” Hyunjin said and brought out her phone, typing away to send a message to Changbin and that was that. Chan disappeared to wherever ghosts like him went to sulk and Hyunjin sank into the mattress, letting her blankets and duvet envelope her tightly.

Something seemed to be shifting, the world around her less bleak and filled with phantoms. No other ghost called for her today, Jisung made the light switches flicker in the evening but the world seemed to be leaving her alone.

Hyunjin felt at peace, and for once, her curse didn't seem like such a bother.


	2. finding a place to land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here we are with chapter two!! yes this is now three chapters long and i have finished the fic in its entirety, i just need to spellcheck the final part before posting ^-^
> 
> i'm actually super proud of myself for writing something this long and persevering with it :'D i hope everyone enjoys this chapter of changjin shenanigans, have a great week and stay safe!!

_It started at the age of only four, where days were supposed to be fun and nights full of whimsical dreams. But Hyunjin was not privy to a world such as that. She saw things, dead things to be exact. The souls of those long passed and the demons of bygone eras that whisked through the mortal realm to cause disruption and havoc in their wake. At first, the dreams had turned to nightmares, then the nightmares turned into reality and her parents decided that their child, one without a soulmate, was not one they wished to care for. Society was ruthless to those who did not have a soulmate, despite the cursed one having no choice in the matter. Hyunjin did not ask to be born without the numbers on her wrist, detailing the distance from the one fated to steal her heart, she was simply brought into the world as such._

_With nowhere to go and no one who wished to associate with her, Hyunjin grew disillusioned with the ways of the world, scowling at the society who had been nothing but cruel. When she fell asleep in a doorway one night in the shady end of the city, she did not expect to wake up in the house of a stranger, the smell of alcohol and the din of club music painting the air._

_“You’ll be safe here.”_

_That was what the man had said, his wrist bearing the same blankness as Hyunjin’s and she chose to trust him. What a foul mistake that was. Yes, the man became her trainer and taught her how to wield the curse she had been given in place of a soulmate; but the man was still evil, pure and unadulterated._

_When Hyunjin finally left, the world became big once again, beyond the confines of brick walls and neon shadows. She finally found the freedom she had once craved, but it came at a price; she never found a home._

  
Weeks seemed to fold over each other after long enough, the days carbon copies of one another. It was a feeling Hyunjin was all too used to, something that left her more drained than energised and kept her brain on autopilot most of the time. Changbin went back to his busy schedule and she went back to raising the dead, all completely normal and all of it dull.

“You should invite Changbin around again,” Jisung suggested one afternoon after a particular chatty client had left and Hyunjin had sunk into the couch with a tired groan. “He’s nice enough, even if Chan still thinks he’s gonna try and kill you or something.” The ghost giggled and moved to act as if he was sitting on the seat next to Hyunjin’s, eyes trying their best to meet the girl’s.

“But he’s probably busy, what if he doesn’t want to see me again right now?” Hyunjin argued, despite knowing that wasn’t true. The only real thing that had changed about the past few weeks was Hyunjin and Changbin’s daily conversations. They talked about everything they could think of, topics ranging from small talk to late night spiels on conspiracy theories and senseless rants. Hyunjin was often complaining to Changbin about her clients and in return Changbin made joking comments on some of his younger students who still couldn’t tell their left from their right hand yet.

“You know that’s not true Hyunjin, stop moping.” Chan’s words startled Hyunjin, who shot up from the sofa and right into Chan’s ghost form, the man yelping and disappearing for a second before appearing again next to Jisung.

“Don’t do that you asshole! I just… Don’t know what we’d do? He’s so friendly to me and no one alive has ever really been that, I don’t want to ruin anything.” Hyunjin said with a dramatic sigh, folding her arms across her chest as both Chan and Jisung glared at her, the younger of the pair facepalming at her excuses.

“If I could text him and ask him out on a date for you, I would.”

“—A _date_?! It’s not a date Jisung! We’re friends!” Hyunjin all but screeched, waving her hands out in front of her face and quickly getting to her feet to try and get away from her friends. She wandered into the kitchen, only to pull out the takeout menus and order some pizza.

“You can say whatever you want but don’t think we haven’t noticed you smiling like a lovesick teenager whenever you message him.” Chan said with a knowing grin, causing Hyunjin to throw a menu at the ghost, even if it passed right through him and hit the couch instead.

“I do not look like that.” Hyunjin deadpanned, rolling her eyes as Chan laughed at her, him and Jisung disappearing a moment later and leaving Hyunjin in her silent apartment. It meant she could sit down again, turn on the tv and ignore the world for a little while. But something was still niggling around in the back of her brain, refusing to be quiet.

Changbin’s soulmate.

For so long, Hyunjin had not cared for soulmates at all. She had learned to switch off that bit of her brain, become apathetic to even the existence of soulmates until they were nothing more than a means to keep her fed and in an apartment. But Changbin’s expression, as he told her that she would never understand what having a soulmate was like, still haunted her.

Maybe there was a part of her that wanted to see if it was possible, if a necromancer could really reach out to a soul that hadn’t met their fated partner? But another part of her was screaming at her to stay well away from those thoughts, that in doing so she would only end up hurt or worse.

There had been days, back when Hyunjin was with her old trainer, that she had been hurt enough to stay bedridden for days, shadows crawling across her paled skin. It was terrifying, to be so helpless and in so much pain, but it was all part of trying to control her powers. This - bringing back Changbin’s soulmate - was anything but control. This was chaos in its most absolute form, to try and defy the mystical laws that surrounded her craft would surely wind her up dead.

“Hello, earth to Hyunjin?” Came the cheerful tone, a translucent hand waving in front of her face before plunging through her skull at a speed fast enough to jolt Hyunjin from her internal monologue.

“Jisung what the heck?” She growled and shuffled back from the ghost, Jisung’s laughter turning from joyful to not in a split second. “What did you do that for?” Hyunjin grumbled and sunk back down into the couch, pulling a blanket around herself as she wished it would hide her away from the prying ghost completely.

“You were stuck in your own head again, I don’t like it when that happens.” Jisung said, his words hanging like a cloud in the air before sinking in as Hyunjin heard the strain in her friend’s voice. She knew how fragile she was when she got caught up in her own thoughts for too long, the world in her head stained with a monochrome hue that left her sick to her stomach. Jisung was always on alert when he saw the telltale signs that Hyunjin was crawling back into that place and he was always there to drag her out again. He had been her first ever friend, Hyunjin couldn’t have asked for a better one.

“Thanks.” She whispered in reply, deciding to close her eyes for a moment as she blocked out any thoughts from before.

“Goodnight Jinnie, sleep well.”

“Jisung, it’s almost afternoon.” Hyunjin countered, Jisung only chuckling to himself before disappearing once again to his own realm. She slipped into sleep a second later, her mind having already been made up about the topic she had mulled over only moments ago.

She was going to find Changbin’s soulmate, she was going to bring him to their realm.

  
_“Now, when you’re contacting ghosts, one thing you must never do is try and bring back a soul that has not met their soulmate. The bond acts as a passage from death to here, to bring them back they need to have met their soulmate in real life first. It will not work otherwise; to bring a soul back who has never met or had a soulmate, well… That would bring you a fate even worse than death, if it is possible at all that is.” Hyunjin’s trainer stalked around the magic circle Hyunjin had created, intricate lines forged by shadowy flames, that melted in between the cracks in the stone basement and leaked into the earth from which all life was raised from and returned to._

_It was almost too dark for Hyunjin to see, a handful of candles providing the only light in the room as the flames seemed to suck the rest away. The smell of smoke hung heavy and caked Hyunjin’s lungs as she heaved in breath after cautious breath, praying to whatever may be up there that she would finally summon a ghost, just this once._

_A name had been written and placed on a piece of parchment in the middle of her circle, blue ink like the murky sky that Hyunjin had grown all too accustomed to living in. Necromancers worked in the comfort of night, the sun became more of a hindrance than anything else._

_“I want you to summon him, Hyunjin. I may have taught you how to connect with those on the other side but you don’t seem to believe in yourself. Raise him and show him to me.” The words echoed in Hyunjin’s ears like a thunderstorm. She was scared of that voice, the one that screamed when she had done wrong, the one that told her that she would never be good enough. But she would be, Hyunjin was going to show him._

_The flames began to flicker, strokes of amber intermingling with the black and curling upwards and inwards towards the centre of the circle. Hyunjin concentrated harder, her nervous thoughts being quashed by the need to succeed. A flash of pain shot through her, ice cold tendrils of fire licking her limbs as she willed herself to push everything that bit further, for the magic to grow even more._

_And then it happened._

_Everything exploded in a flash of light, Hyunjin being thrown back as she hit the wall with a meek cry. She’d failed, she knew she had; the pain turning red hot as she pulled her hand back and saw blood staining her palm._

_“What’s going on?” A voice cut through the ringing in Hyunjin’s ears, it sounded afraid, more so than her. It sent Hyunjin reeling to her feet, eyes wide and mystified at what she saw._

_A ghost, shimmering in the flames with a face that wore an expression of terror, clearly bewildered at what had become of him._

_“Are you… Are you Han Jisung?” Hyunjin spoke with as much confidence as she could muster, hands raised to show that she meant no harm._

_“Yes, that’s me.”_

_“I’m Hwang Hyunjin, and I’ve summoned you from the afterlife to the mortal realm.”_

Hyunjin texted Changbin the very next day, eager to tell him about her plans as she stumbled giddily through her apartment in an attempt to message the elder and get dressed all at once. It was all for naught when she tripped over her own feet and decided that sitting down would probably be the better option.

She received a reply from Changbin only seconds later, asking if he could call her, to which she agreed and waited for the telltale sign of her ringtone. For once, Chan and Jisung seemed to be leaving her alone, the apartment eerily quiet when the tinkling of piano keys rang through the room and Hyunjin rushed to pick up her phone.

“Hi Changbin—”

“—I’m not letting you do it.” Both spoke in unison, Hyunjin making a noise of confusion on her end of the call. Changbin didn’t want her to let him meet his soulmate? It was clear that Changbin still held feelings over him, or he at least wanted some level of closure that could be solved through Hyunjin’s magic. So why exactly did he not want her to help?

“I’m not letting you bring him back. Because I did some googling and it’s dangerous, Hyunjin, you were right, you could get killed. I lost Felix, I don’t need to lose someone else because I’m selfish and want to see him properly. That’s just… Not right.” Changbin sounded anxious, Hyunjin could hear him pacing across his floor from here as his voice drew higher and strained.

“But just think Changbin, you could see him in person and talk to him and I’ll even let you do it for free because I’m just that nice!” Hyunjin rambled, unsure herself of why she was now so insistent on this idea when only weeks ago she had been horrified by it.

Hyunjin wondered if her change of heart had anything to do with her desperate need to cling onto the friendship her and Changbin had forged? She had only ever confided in Chan and Jisung before this, with Changbin she was confused and unsure of what to do; he was a person that was alive, that she could call and text and meet up with. It was strange, but Hyunjin was not averse to it one bit. However, that didn’t mean that the conventions didn’t confuse her, Hyunjin felt as if she was floundering on the precipice between being friends with Changbin or losing him altogether.

“Hyunjin, I can’t take you up on the offer, you know that… Do you want to meet up for some coffee or something? I don’t think I really trust you not to do something reckless right now.” Changbin’s suggestion only served to make Hyunjin pout in frustration. Great, now Changbin thought she was impulsive. And maybe she was, just a little bit, but she would never admit that and risk boosting Changbin’s ego.

“Fine, but you’re paying.” She grumbled and hung up, pocketing her phone as it buzzed once again, probably with the address of the coffee shop. Hyunjin set about getting ready, putting far too much effort into her own appearance but the girl was fed up of always meeting Changbin when she looked halfway to death.

Finding the coffee shop after that was easy enough, the building a short fifteen minute walk from Hyunjin’s apartment. She waltzed between trees and wandered along paths that were rather unfamiliar. It was rare for her to venture into this part of the city, that was far cleaner and more well-kept than her own neighbourhood. The streets were bustling and full, Hyunjin pulling down the sleeves of her jacket to conceal what was - or rather wasn’t - there. When she was younger, she had almost been tempted to write the soulmate mark on her wrist, but she couldn’t bring herself to be so foolish. Having a fake mark there would probably only cause more hurt than it was worth.

Before she had realised, Hyunjin had arrived at the coffee shop, the aroma of baked goods and the light hearted chattering hitting her at full force as she gently swung the door open, a bell chiming above. Changbin was already sitting down in a secluded booth, nursing a cup of something despite the late summer heat still simmering around the café floor. The elder man waved her over, Hyunjin traversing around the tables and apologising quietly to a staff member she accidentally nudged.

“I’m glad you came, if you hadn’t shown up I would’ve been worried.” Changbin said quietly, eyes flicking up to meet Hyunjin’s as she sat down, the man pushing a mug over in her direction. “It’s hot chocolate, I didn’t know what else you might like but everyone likes hot chocolate, right?”

“Yeah, I like it.” Hyunjin put on a tentative smile, thoughts still reeling from the thought that Changbin could have been worried about her. Worried and Hyunjin were not two words often found in the same sentence, she was more the type people didn’t care for. After all she didn’t have a soulmate, anything that happened to her had no consequences for anyone else.

The pair sat in relative silence, Hyunjin soaking in the atmosphere of the coffee shop as she watched servers and customers alike bustle around, meeting with friends, soulmates or family. It made Hyunjin’s heart hurt just a little. Thankfully, Changbin must have realised this as he cleared his throat.

“So, your phone call, where did all of that come from? You hated the idea of finding Felix when you first met me, why the change?” Changbin quizzed, cocking his head to the side as he waited for Hyunjin to speak, taking another sip of what Hyunjin guessed was black coffee, the smell making her nose scrunch up for just a moment.

“It’s… It’s a long story.” Hyunjin began, fiddling with the sleeves of her jacket as the world around her seemed to melt away until it was only her, Changbin and the mess of thoughts reeling in her head.

“Well, lucky you, it’s also my day off.”

“Look! If you had been anyone else, literally anyone else, I would have said no. I would have turned you down and told you to fuck off or something and then never seen you again. But I did see you again and you were so nice. Changbin… I’ve never had a friend before except for Chan and Jisung, and we both know they’re not exactly conventional friends. But with you it’s like I don’t know what to do, I end up floundering and saying stuff without thinking because I don’t want to turn around one day and not have you be my friend anymore.”

And then there was silence, Hyunjin’s words lingering in the air much like the pungent scent of coffee as she leaned back in the booth, refusing to look anywhere but down at her feet. Changbin didn’t speak and Hyunjin had no words left to say, so the silence continued for a minute and then two and then three.

The world continued to turn outside and the café continued to run, but neither of the pair knew how to react to Hyunjin’s outburst.

“Hyunjin…” Changbin whispered, his tone confusing Hyunjin so she ended up abandoning her resolve and looking over towards the elder. But his eyes held nothing negative and the smile curling on his lips was not the menacing one Hyunjin had been greeted with so many times in years gone by. No. This smile was rather one of understanding. “Hyunjin, it’s okay. You don’t need to do anything grand to keep me here as a friend. We don’t meet up nearly as much as I would like. But we talk so much and I like whatever we have now. You don’t need to give away your soul or kill yourself off, I’m not going anywhere.” Changbin chuckled and reached across the table to take Hyunjin’s hand, linking their fingers together as his expression held nothing but warmth. Hyunjin almost wanted to cry.

“Good, because I’m not going anywhere either, you’re stuck with me now.” Hyunjin grumbled, trying to remain indifferent despite the fact that she could barely contain her happiness; the thought that Changbin didn’t want her to go and that they were definitely friends taking up most of the space in her head.

“Promise me you’re not going to be an idiot now. You better not try and bring Felix back.” Changbin said, his voice suddenly serious once again as he commanded Hyunjin’s attention.

“I promise.” Was all she could say in reply, nodding her head firmly as she took her hand back and turned her gaze back to her cup of hot chocolate, the marshmallows bobbing around as the cream had all but melted. “I’ll just stick to the day job.”

  
_“Ah, so we meet again like this, Hwang Hyunjin?”_

_The voice was thick and heavy, clinging to Hyunjin’s ears as she froze in place, the lights on the sidewalk flickering before turning off completely._

_“I thought I told you to leave me alone?” She hissed, shoulders hunched forward as she tried to keep some semblance of composure. But it was hard, when the person that haunted your every waking and sleeping moment continued to follow you, even in death._

_She had heard only months ago that her old trainer had died, it was something of a surprise, the man having been so confident in his own powers to do anything reckless. But here they both were, Hyunjin’s two feet firmly on the ground and the man behind her floating a few feet above it._

_“But how could I leave my own prodigy alone? You’re the only person who can see me now Hyunjin.” Her trainer laughed airily, Hyunjin’s breath cutting out for a moment as she spun around on her heel to look at the man who had brought her nothing but hurt._

_He was definitely dead, that was for sure, the clothes he wore littered with tears and bullet wounds. What had even happened to him? Hyunjin wasn’t sure she wanted an answer. But apparently, she didn’t have a choice._

_“When you left me Hwang Hyunjin, I was left to fend for myself. No one in the red light district particularly wanted my services anymore, not when you set up business and I lost all my regular clients to a stupid kid who could never have even summoned a wisp without my help only a year before. And so I became something else, necromancers don’t have many career paths so I decided I might as well make more ghosts instead of speaking to the ones that already existed.”_

_Hyunjin swallowed harshly, not daring to speak nor even make a sound, the ghost in front of her beginning to move and weave through the shadows. She decided to follow after him down the back alleys as he continued to speak, leaving only darkness in the path behind him, clouding Hyunjin’s vision with a murky black._

_“But, obviously, messing with death as we do is what is expected of us. Causing death is a whole other story and my crimes soon caught up with me, as you can see.” The man said whilst gesturing to his blood stained chest, the smirk he wore still no less menacing as he spoke of his crimes. “However, I made sure of one thing. That before I died I created a magic circle, to link myself back to this earth, to you - Hwang Hyunjin - to be precise.”_

_“But why? Why me?” Hyunjin asked breathlessly, tears brimming in her eyes as she tried to heave air back into her lungs, but it was as if there was none left in the atmosphere._

_“Because you’re the reason I’m in this mess in the first place, you damned me to this life and to this death. You will never escape me Hyunjin!” And with that the shadows dissipated, the echoes and remnants of her trainer reverberating around the dead end alley he had led her down. Hyunjin stood there in shock until she sunk down to her knees, eyes going wide when she realised exactly what doorway she was now leaning against. Everything had come full circle and now there was really no escape from the past she had tried so hard to run from._

_Even in death, the evil haunts of Hyunjin’s childhood would continue to torment her. Her trainer came by often as a drag of smoke or a flicker of lights. But it wouldn’t be until Hyunjin met Changbin, months and months later, that the ghost would truly become the sole curse in Hyunjin’s life._

  
It would be two days until Hyunjin had the chance to meet Changbin again. Despite it only being a grand total of forty-eight hours, something within Hyunjin felt upset that she couldn’t see the elder sooner. Maybe it was because Changbin was her first alive friend, but she found herself becoming attached and fast.

They’d planned for Hyunjin to come around to Changbin’s apartment, there they would order food and Changbin would make her sit down and watch several marvel movies after finding out Hyunjin had never seen one before in her life. In Hyunjin’s defense, she was more of a romantic-comedy person.

But on her way out of the door, Chan had decided to stop her in her tracks, appearing with a dishevelled expression and fear streaked in his eyes.

“Hyunjin, don’t go out.”

“Why not Chan? Is this about Changbin again? I swear he’s a good guy and he lives in a really nice area—”

“It’s not about Changbin!” He shouted, Hyunjin flinching at the volume and what sounded like desperation in Chan’s tone, taking a step back into the apartment so Chan wouldn’t have to linger on the precipice between the safety of the apartment and the exposed hallway. “It’s Jisung he- he’s…” Chan’s voice started to get strained, tears building in his eyes as he tried to calm himself but it was to no avail.

“What’s going on Channie? Is Jisung okay?”

“No, no Hyunjin he’s—” Before Chan could even finish his sentence he disappeared, leaving behind not even a trace and leaving Hyunjin more baffled than ever.

“Chan? This isn’t funny, where did you go?” Hyunjin asked, wandering around her apartment as if the ghost would suddenly materialise in front of her once again. But apparently he really had gone, Hyunjin sighing and running a hand through her hair as she wondered what on earth had just happened? Nothing made sense, death was supposed to erase any sort of threat. Ghosts couldn’t be hurt or have any pain inflicted upon them at all, so what exactly had happened to Jisung? Hyunjin decided not to dwell on everything, surely it must all be okay? So despite her better judgement, she slipped her shoes back on and made her way out of the door.

It was cold now on the streets of the city, a breeze ruffling Hyunjin’s clothes as her hair whipped around a little. Autumn was fast approaching and Hyunjin could do nothing but be thankful for the changing seasons. With Autumn close by, the world would slow down a little. There would be a lull in her clients and she could have a well deserved rest before the busiest time of year arrived at Christmas. That was when Hyunjin couldn’t catch a break, people wanting to see the soulmates and tell them of their holiday festivities.

Like the coffee shop she had been in only days prior, Changbin’s house was in a much nicer neighbourhood than her own. The high-rise towers gleaming and each car that drove on by seemed more expensive than the last. Hyunjin gasped as she saw an apartment for sale advert on her walk, gawking at the obscene price tag and wondering just how Changbin managed to live here on a teacher’s salary. But she didn’t have time to dwell on her thoughts for too long, the building Changbin had told her about coming into view and she stopped in front of the apartment block before taking the steps towards the revolving door.

Inside was almost like a hotel, the reception a world away from the crummy entrance of her own place. She smiled at the porter on her way past, deciding to take the steps up to the third floor since there seemed to be a family waiting for the elevator and she didn’t particularly want to share the ride with a screaming toddler. Even the stairs felt excessive, the marble banister smooth and cool to the touch and Hyunjin felt as if she’d walked into some sort of fairytale fantasy, soaking in the feeling whilst it lasted.

As she arrived at Changbin’s door, Hyunjin’s nerves began to seep back into her as she wondered whether to turn tail. She had gotten so close to Changbin as of late and it was all going so well, this was a new step into whatever was going on between them and Hyunjin desperately didn’t want to mess up. 

Eventually Hyunjin decided to knock, Changbin answering the door a moment later and smiling as he stood face to face with the girl.

“Come in, I already ordered food.” Changbin said with a grin before taking Hyunjin’s hand and all but pulling her into his apartment. Once the door was closed behind them both, Hyunjin set about taking off her shoes and jacket, exchanging the boots for a pair of slippers Changbin had given her and slowly walking down the hall with the elder a few paces in front. Everything felt so cosy, the warm lighting and plush carpet beneath her feet left Hyunjin feeling far more content than she ever had in her own home. There the lights glared and the floor was always, always, cold.

“Tada! Welcome to my house!” Changbin said cheerily, brandishing his hands out as he gestured to the open-plan living space, Hyunjin making a beeline for the soft couch and sinking into it with a contented sigh.

“Yup, not moving now.” She grumbled, hearing Changbin laugh somewhere behind her before he wandered over too. Hyunjin opened her eyes just in time to catch Changbin looking at her with a fond expression she hadn’t seen before, it felt all too loving and soft for them just being friends, but she decided not to dwell on it lest she get too caught up in her head.

“The food should be here soon, do you want to pick out a movie?” Changbin asked as he sat down on the couch, turning on the television and navigating his way over to Netflix, placing the remote on Hyunjin’s lap before she even had a chance to answer.

“What if I put on the mushiest romantic comedy you’ve ever seen?” She giggled and raised her brow, Changbin only shrugging, clearly indifferent to what Hyunjin wanted to put on. She flicked through the options before remembered their original plan and switched over to Disney+ instead, pulling up something that looked like a marvel movie. Hyunjin was very much in the dark when it came to superheroes.

“Captain America? Good choice, he’s hot.” Changbin commented, Hyunjin snorting and pressing play. In the few seconds between putting the remote down and the movie beginning, Changbin had shuffled closer to Hyunjin, resting his head on her shoulder as the girl felt her face getting warmer. There was no use denying that she had feelings of some kind for Changbin, she couldn’t yet pinpoint them exactly but they were definitely there.

The next thirty minutes passed in relative silence, save for the sound of the film playing out in front of them both, but Hyunjin really wouldn’t have had it any other way. For the first time in maybe forever, Hyunjin felt comfortable, free of any worries and work-related stressors, it was a welcome change. When the food arrived, Hyunjin ate well, Changbin subtly sliding more food onto her plate when he thought she wasn’t looking. She was, but she didn’t want to upset the elder and continued eating until there was no way she could have anymore.

“Jinnie, do you want to stay the night? It’s pretty dark out.” Changbin said once the second Captain America film had drawn to an end. Hyunjin felt something squeeze in her chest at the pet name, nodding wordlessly in reply as she watched the way the moonlight seemed to make the elder’s eyes shine just that bit brighter. Changbin moved to close the curtains and turn the lights on in the apartment a moment later, casting the room in a warm glow that made Hyunjin’s vision soft at the edges, eyes trained on Changbin as he set about making some tea for them both. It seemed so domestic and for a second Hyunjin let herself believe that she wasn’t going back to her own home after this, that this was where she lived, with Changbin.

A few days ago, after meeting in the café, she had told Changbin snippets of how her trainer had treated her, it was all over text and important parts of her past were probably missing. But it was the first time anyone other than Chan and Jisung knew of what had happened to her, no one had ever been that close to her before. Changbin had taken it all in his stride but it was clear now that he was clearly much more doting than the last time they had met. This Changbin was a complete reversal to the one Hyunjin had met in the Summer, when the sticky hot days had left them all on edge and ready to fight at any given moment. With Autumn, Changbin had mellowed out and so had Hyunjin, it was much better like this, Hyunjin remarked as the kettle boiled.

“Do you want any sugar? Or milk? I don’t really drink tea much so I don’t know what I’m doing...” Changbin asked, looking over the counter to the girl on his couch with that same smile he’d worn since Hyunjin had arrived.

“Can I have one sugar please, and no milk.” Hyunjin said softly, not wanting to disturb the peace of the night as she hugged a cushion to her chest and waited for Changbin to return. She was infinitely glad that tomorrow was Sunday, a day off from the hectic week before the next one began. Work had been full to bursting with clients, new and old, all wanting to greet their soulmates and it left Hyunjin feeling hollow. Changbin seemed to understand that feeling. Maybe that was why he had invited her round that day? There was a sense of emptiness that they both shared, silently yes, but it was there despite that. Hyunjin was thankful that she had someone to lean on at long last.

“Here is your tea, my liege.” Changbin giggled as he handed the mug over, Hyunjin chuckling too as she cupped the warm cup in her hands, blowing away the steam before taking a small sip. It was peppermint tea, something she had told Changbin about during a conversation ages ago, surprised that the elder had actually remembered.

“It’s good, thanks Binnie.” She said softly, grinning ear to ear when Changbin grew just as flustered as she had been earlier. Vengeance was sweet. The pair spent the next few minutes drinking their tea quietly, Changbin turning on some music to accompany them as they exchanged small talk and comments about how amazing it was that the elder had never had peppermint tea before, Hyunjin gasping dramatically when she discovered this.

“Do you think Chan and Jisung will be able to survive the night without annoying you?” Changbin asked a while later, when both of them were sleepy and the stars were twinkling high in the sky, Hyunjin giggling before she replied.

“They don’t need to survive Binnie… They’re already dead.” She stuck out her tongue mischievously as Changbin scoffed and playfully whacked her arm. “Chan was acting a bit weird earlier but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, he gets easily spooked, even if he is a ghost.” Hyunjin explained, her full weight leaning against Changbin by now as she grew more and more tired.

“I think, on that note, we should probably go to bed.” Changbin said with a small hum, hauling Hyunjin up to her feet out of nowhere and leaving the girl to flounder for a moment before she found her feet.

“Since when were you so strong?” She grumbled under her breath, Changbin not answering and instead taking her hand and leading her to his bedroom. At first, she’d assumed that she would be sleeping on the couch, apparently Changbin had different ideas, not that Hyunjin was complaining in the slightest.

“I’ll get you some clothes to sleep in, don’t move and don’t fall asleep.” Changbin said and gently helped Hyunjin to sit onto the bed, the tired girl only yawning in response as Changbin’s words had the exact opposite effect of what he intended. By the time Changbin came back with a hoodie and a pair of shorts that he hoped would fit Hyunjin, she was already halfway to sleep.

“You can go and get changed in the bathroom if you want Jinnie.” He chuckled and dragged her up to her feet once again, Hyunjin whining in protest but doing as Changbin had said despite how tired and sluggish she felt. Once the bathroom door was shut she decided to take a proper look around, blinking her eyes as they adjusted to the bright lights. Well, at least Changbin was a clean person, she noted as she took note of the spotless tiles, pulling off layers of her clothing.

This was the first ‘sleepover’ Hyunjin had ever been to, as a kid her parents had been rather sheltering, always keeping her away from the others. At first, they had said it was for her own protection, arguing that the other kids would only pick on her for her lack of soulmate mark, but Hyunjin had realised after they had all but abandoned her, that they were simply ashamed. No one wanted to have a kid cursed to see the dead instead of a fated partner every day of their lives.

Hyunjin pulled the hoodie over her head first before slipping on the shorts, sighing contently at how warm and cosy she felt, the sleeves of the sweater hanging over her hands like paws as she gathered her own clothes up in her arms and left the bathroom.

Changbin was already changed and tucked under the blankets when Hyunjin returned, placing her folded clothes on the ground before making her way to the bed and joining Changbin with a shy smile on her lips.

“Hi…” She whispered, settling down at the edge of the bed just in case Changbin wanted the space.

“Hi.” Changbin whispered in return, chuckling to himself and motioning for Hyunjin to get closer until she was within reaching distance, quickly wrapping his arms around her as soon as he could. Hyunjin’s sleepy brain was suddenly wide awake as she realised what was going on, spluttering for a second before settling down, her head tucked underneath Changbin’s chin and their legs tangled together. “Is this okay?” Changbin asked a second later, Hyunjin only nodded as she hugged Changbin’s waist, face reddening at the fact that she was so close to the elder.

“Goodnight Binnie.” She whispered, yawning as her nose scrunched up for a moment, melting into Changbin’s arms as the elder flicked off the bedside light and nuzzled his face against her hair.

“Night night Jinnie, sleep well.” Changbin hummed, the words barely registered by the girl next to him, Hyunjin already slipping off into sleep. This was as close to perfection as Hyunjin thought she could get, there, in Changbin’s arms. It felt like home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's my twitter :D : [@acepiri](https://twitter.com/acepiri)  
> 


	3. something new

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we're at the last chapter!! i hope everyone enjoys it and has a good week ^-^ i apologise in advance if this is cheesy and overly dramatic, that's just how it ended up skjhgkdf
> 
> (also i wrote the last scene listening to something new by hozier, which is where the chapter name comes from, so you might want to do the same if you feel like it!)

_“Hyunjin! Jinnie wake up! Get up now!”_

_“Hyunjin we need you now! Hyunjin help us, please!”_

_The voices were overlapping, a mangled mess of words that Hyunjin couldn’t decipher as her head pounded with the beginnings of a headache. She tried to force her eyes open, squirming from where she was led down but everything hurt, something pressing down on her chest and making her breathing shallow._

_“—He’s here again, don’t let him hurt anyone else!”_

_There was the voice again, it sounded too familiar and Hyunjin surged upwards, the force against her limbs giving way for a moment as her eyes flew open and the world flooded into colour. She was in an unfamiliar place, Changbin no longer beside her as her hands dug into dewy grass, fingers sinking into mud._

_“Hyunjin, you’re dreaming but you need to listen to me! This all is very real…”_

_That was Chan’s voice, Hyunjin realised, it had to be. There was no other explanation other than that._

_“Chan, where are you?” She tried to call out, but the words seemed to fall on deaf ears, vision finally focusing as she surveyed her surroundings._

_Wherever she was, there had been great chaos here. The earth beneath her had been ripped at its very seams, dirt and vegetation pulled from the ground and scattered across the landscape. It was otherwise deserted, Hyunjin being the only person there for as far as she could see, the horizon glittering unnaturally as she tried to peer beyond it._

_“This is what has become of our realm Hyunjin. Your trainer he… He destroyed it, in a quest to seek vengeance against you. He took Jisung.” Chan’s last words were whispered across the fields, emotion suddenly overtaking the ghost from wherever he was and Hyunjin found her own eyes glazing over._

_“But where would he even go? How can you take a ghost?” Hyunjin asked, voice cracking as she attempted to stand only to fall back down a second later, something pushing her back._

_“That’s the thing… We don’t know, he’s just gone Hyunjin. But… Your trainer said one thing before he left, he said he’s going to find someone else important to you and the person you love. I think he said his name was Felix, it rings a bell but I don’t—”_

_“—Felix?! No… No you’re kidding, he wouldn’t. That’s Changbin’s soulmate!” She all but screamed, recalling everything her trainer had ever told her about the ghost realm, about how destroying a ghost whose other half was still tethered to the lands of the living would in turn destroy their soulmate too. It was almost laughable, how Hyunjin had once brushed that aside, her trainer simply saying that ghosts were practically impossible to destroy anyway._

_Oh how cruel Fate had become._

_“Hyunjin listen to me. You can’t do anything reckless, okay?”_

_“No Chan, I have to do something. I don’t care what it is, I’m not losing Changbin, not now.” Hyunjin said through gritted teeth, heaving in a breath as she rubbed at her eyes to try and stop the tears from falling. But it was useless, the girl already spiralling far away from reality and rational thought. “I’m going to bring Felix to my realm, he can’t hurt Felix there…”_

_“Hyunjin that would kill you. You’re risking too much.”_

_“I don’t care, I’d rather die trying to save someone I love than- than…”_

_“Oh… Hyunjin.” Chan breathed out, his form flickering to life a few metres away from Hyunjin’s shaking form, the girl curling up once she realised what she had just admitted. It felt like revealing the deepest of all her secrets, her heart suddenly weak and close to breaking completely as Chan appeared down by her side. “It’s alright Jinnie, it’s okay. You understand though… Why you can’t save him, right? You can’t die Jinnie, you can’t give up like that, not after everything.” The ghost’s voice was softer than it had ever been, Chan’s presence comforting for all of a few moments until something jarred Hyunjin out of her own head._

_“No. Chan, I’m going to save him, Changbin and Felix. I’m going to bring him back, I’m going to break whatever curse my trainer has put over him and me and everyone around us. I’m going to finish it all.”_

_And with that Hyunjin found herself waking up, her past and present lives converging completely until no one could tell where one ended and the next began._

  
“Hyunjin, are you alright?” Changbin’s voice was far deeper and laced with sleep when Hyunjin finally woke up, drenched in sweat and tear tracks running down her face as she blinked in confusion. But then everything caught up to her all at once, remembering the dream and Chan and Jisung and Felix and him. She refused to even dwell on her trainer, he was not worth a shred of space in her head.

“No, no I’m not.” She breathed out, frazzled and disorientated as Changbin sat her up and started rubbing soothing circles into her back, Hyunjin trying to untense her muscles but the situation she was trapped in prevented her from relaxing in the slightest. “Binnie, Changbin, we need to talk.” Hyunjin said seriously, face hardening as she turned to face a perplexed Changbin, the elder nodding and sitting back on the bed. Hyunjin would have found the way he reached for a plushie and started to hug it rather cute, had she not had other things occupying her mind.

“What is it? Did you have a bad dream?” Changbin asked, clearly very concerned as his brows stayed furrowed; Hyunjin could only swallow harshly, trying to figure out how to say what she had to in the least painful way possible.

“I did… Changbin, I need to save Felix. And before you try and tell me no, please hear me out?” Hyunjin pleaded, eyes aglow with unshed tears and hands clasped against her chest, still trying to regain a sense of feeling beyond the numbness in her limbs. Changbin simply nodded, urging Hyunjin to continue as the sound of early morning traffic rushed on by outside, the city starting to wake up as well.

“I saw Chan in my dream and he told me so much. He contacted me directly through the ghost realm, the realm beyond ours, my trainer has gone rogue and he took Jisung… We don’t know where but he’s gone and Chan can no longer find him at all. My trainer is set on ruining my life completely, he knows the laws of our world and the ghostly worlds inside out, he knows what he’s doing.

“He plans on destroying Felix next. But should he succeed, then you will die as well. If a ghost with a living soulmate is killed, then that mortal dies as well. I need to save Felix, Changbin, I’m not going to let you die.” Hyunjin finished speaking, wringing her hands together as she refused to meet Changbin’s eyes, knowing that last time the elder had not taken to the idea so well.

The sound of cars seemed to be deafening to Hyunjin now, Changbin not speaking as the world seemed to grow in intensity, making Hyunjin feel vulnerable and all too alone.

“You can’t Hyunjin… You can’t give up your life for mine. Why are you so insistent on dying? Don’t you care about yourself—”

“I care about you!” Hyunjin said, exasperated and tired and all too broken. “Of course I don’t want to die either, but when I began this line of work and set up my business, I swore to protect all my clients. No matter how annoying or insufferable soulmates seemed to me, I couldn’t let that cloud my judgement. I’m going to protect you, Changbin, you can’t convince me otherwise.”

“I’m not going to let you just die Hyunjin!”

“You can’t stop me Changbin, this is what I want…” Hyunjin’s voice was barely audible over the way her heart was beating far too fast and far too loud, the world solely her and Changbin and the very sound of her blood roaring in her ears.

“You’re right, I can’t stop you Hyunjin. But you’re being senseless and impulsive and I can’t watch you hurt yourself like this for me. There’s got to be another way, right? Right?”

“There isn’t, there isn’t another way.”

“We’ll find another way then, we’ve got time.”

Hyunjin scoffed. Time? She didn’t have time. Time was useless when death was the only thing that constantly followed her, like a weighted cloud, dark and heavy and ever present. Time was nothing but a construct made for those with soulmates, who believed that in _time_ everything would be okay, that _time_ was on their side. Whatever side that was, Hyunjin wasn’t blessed with the ability to cross over to it.

“There’s no time Changbin.” She muttered, face stoic as she got out of bed, finding the strength to move at long last as she gathered her things in her arms and scarpered for the door.

As she left the apartment, the door slamming shut and the elevator doors closing, Hyunjin couldn’t think of anything. Her mind blank save for a single thought.

Changbin hadn’t followed after her, hadn’t even tried to stop her at all.

Hyunjin was back to normal, back to being alone. But this time it was not comforting, it was rather cold, icy tendrils of normality choking rather than caressing her racing head as she rushed out of the apartment building.

Seoul was full of blinking lights and swerving cars at this time, the world topsy-turvy and hazy with fog. Hyunjin sprinted as if her life depended on it - it did. She ran with a force she had never felt before, past the café, past the convenience store and the park and the riverside. All places that reminded her of Changbin, a person who had been home for all of a few hours, now ripped from her by her own actions. It was for the best, she tried to convince herself, skidding on the rain slicked pavement and falling to her knees before rising once again.

The inside of her apartment was cold, her breath lingering in the air as she shivered and moved to turn on the heating. She knew it wouldn’t help with the hollowness that was eating her up, but it was worth a try nonetheless.

Hyunjin’s reality sunk in slowly, as the rain clouds descended and the world turned to grey, everything started to make sense. She had to bring back Felix, she couldn’t leave Changbin to die because she was selfish enough not to help him. That was why he came here in the first place, wasn’t it? To see Felix, to be helped?

Hyunjin never left a client hanging, she would complete the job she set out to do.

She would die for Seo Changbin and bring Felix to the mortal realm, Changbin’s life depended on it.

  
The magic circle Hyunjin had created looked all too familiar, her apartment shrouded in darkness as the blackened flames flicked out dangerously. She had spent hours working on the incantation, scouring all of her books and scrolls on forbidden magic to find the spell she was after. Now it was finally time to do what she had set out to.

With the day drawing to a close and the moon shrouded by storm clouds, it was the perfect moment for the dead to be raised. Hyunjin brought out her parchment paper and pen, taking a deep breath before getting to work. There was a spell to be written and a name to be placed, all had to be perfect as even the slightest mistake would cost more than just her own life.

“Lee Felix…” She whispered, chuckling to herself sadly as she peered at the name scrawled onto the paper, cursive strokes in blue ink that glittered under the light of the flames. “It’s kinda funny… Isn’t it? I was supposed to forget your name, just like all the other ghosts I bring back, and yet you’re the only one I remembered. Because of Changbin…” Hyunjin spoke in a lilting tone, words floating into the night as she placed the name in the centre of the circle, everything having been simple and familiar to her thus far. But from that moment on, nothing was ever going to be the same again.

The flames accepted the name with a crackle of embers, sparks flying in an array of colours as Hyunjin took a hesitant step back. After she had summoned Jisung for the first time, the flames had never scared her since, but the sheer chill and quickly dropping temperatures in the room brought that very fear back to the forefront of Hyunjin’s mind. It was if she was a young teenager once again, faced with the full force of powers she could not yet control, the energy coursing through her with an intensity that hurt. The same energy was back once more, painful and raw.

Hyunjin winced as she took a step towards the flames, arms outstretched as the fire turned a piercing blue. She started to mutter the spell, a searing ache burning in her chest as she spoke.

“I call upon the spirits to guide me, to help and to heal the bonds of the past.”

Another flash of light and the flames grew brighter, but Hyunjin could not look away, entranced by the dancing colours that whipped across her field of vision. The girl cleared her throat, trying to dispel the smoke caked there before she continued.

“Bring me the ghost of Lee Felix, show me his soul and let me protect his Fate.”

The words came out as nothing more than a hoarse whisper, Hyunjin realising exactly what she was doing when the pain increased tenfold, causing her knees to almost give way as she struggled to stay standing. It felt as if someone had pierced her heart with a stake, an ache so strong that Hyunjin’s eyes welled with tears and the world turned hazy. She was tempted to stop, to call everything off, but that option was no longer on the cards. When a soul was being brought between realms, a necromancer could not cut off the connection during the process. To do so would gravely injure Hyunjin at the least, most probably it would end with her certain death.

In response to her plea, the fire turned from blue to red and amber, the flames still cold and writhing, as if trying to escape from the confines of the magic circle. Hyunjin choked on her own breath, hands still extended as she pushed all of her power into trying to get the spell to work. She had to bring Felix here, from there Hyunjin could protect him from harm and hopefully draw her trainer out too and destroy him completely. Ghosts like him deserved nothing but pure hell.

“I wish to see Lee Felix!” Hyunjin cried out, voice cracking and withering into nothing as the flames seemed to bend and wilt under her tears, shying away from those that hit the ground. The floor started to quake beneath her feet, the power too much for the circle to bear as she continued to push and push beyond what should have been possible.

For a second nothing happened, the room continued to groan and warp under the sheer force of the magic Hyunjin was summoning. And then all hell broke loose, the thread of reality dissolving without a word.

Hyunjin screamed as she was thrown backwards, skidding across the floorboards and rolling onto her front, a sickening crack followed by unbearable pain licking up her arm. The flames of the circle breached its boundaries, climbing up the walls of the apartment and on a path towards her limp frame.

“No… No…” Hyunjin wheezed out, extending her hand that wasn’t hurt towards the flames, trying to push them back but the room was spinning and everything hurt. Everything hurt so, so much. Maybe she was really dying? Maybe she should have listened?

Maybe she should never have met Changbin again in the first place?

_“Pathetic.”_

The voice came, sneering and in a wave of mockery, Hyunjin’s senses suddenly snapping back into focus as she lifted her head to see him, her trainer, the one who had destroyed her life from the very beginning.

“I expected more from you Hyunjin, can’t even summon a ghost now without breaking an arm?” He cackled and something within Hyunjin snapped.

“Bring me…” She began, looking directly into the eyes of the man who had tried to disillusion her every waking moment, tried to turn her away from a society she could have called home had she tried just that bit harder. “The ghost of Lee Felix.” Hyunjin stood up, letting the flames crawl up her limbs as she walked straight back into them, grabbing the boy’s name from the middle of the circle and brandishing it to her trainer, mirroring his smirk with an intensity she didn’t know she possessed.

“Show me his soul—”

“Hyunjin?! Hyunjin open this door right now!”

_Changbin._

Hyunjin turned to look at the door with wide eyes, barely able to see it through the wall of fire that continued to rage through her apartment. She was only just starting to burn, a necromancer's flame able to protect them from most damage that normal fire would bring. But her lungs were encased with soot and the world was almost too bright to bear.

“Hyunjin, let me in!” Changbin screamed, slamming his body against the door with a garbled noise of panic. Hyunjin couldn’t move, able to hear the manic laughter of her trainer and the cries of Changbin but she couldn’t move a muscle, rooted to the spot with her eyes on the orange flames.

She had to finish this.

“Show me his soul and let me protect his fate…” Hyunjin spoke with resolve, looking right back at her trainer as his form began to flicker, unable to stay in the mortal realm but unable to leave because of Hyunjin’s hold over him.

“You can’t do it Hwang Hyunjin! You’re weak, nothing but a smudge of dirt on this earth!” He screamed but Hyunjin was no longer listening, concentrating her power as everything drowned out to nothing.

“Lee Felix!”

A crash made her stop short, Changbin tumbling into the apartment and landing on his face, pulling himself up to his feet and racing towards Hyunjin.

“That human doesn’t care about you. None of them ever will!”

“Bring Lee Felix to me!”

Hyunjin’s voice was deafening, her ears ringing from the sound as she fell to her knees, completely and utterly drained of everything she had. There was no power left, she had nothing left to give.

Changbin all but screamed, rushing to Hyunjin before her head could hit the ground, the girl’s vision swimming as she started to lose consciousness.

“Hyunjin… Hyunjin look at me.” He said through tears, holding Hyunjin close to his chest as the girl went limp in his arms. “Hyunjin I…”

The words were lost to Hyunjin, eyes drooping shut as she slipped away from the world. She felt at peace for a second before everything went black, Changbin’s arms felt like home. 

_“Changbin… Is that you?”_

The flames disappeared.

  
Hyunjin awoke to silence, save for a perpetual beeping somewhere to her left. Everything was still and everything was fine.

But then Hyunjin realised she definitely wasn’t dead and things grew a little less fine very quickly.

“What…?” She whispered, coughing suddenly when the word tickled her throat. The sound alerted a passing nurse, Hyunjin watching her run off with a call for a doctor hanging in the air. It was then that she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, turning her head down when the coughing ceased and squinting as her vision came back into focus.

“Binnie.” She grumbled, launching herself into another coughing fit since she hadn’t learned her lesson from the last one, bringing a hand weakly to press against her chest. The movement was finally enough to rouse the elder who was sleeping in the chair beside her bed, curled up and looking smaller than ever. There were dark circles under his eyes and the sight hurt to witness.

Changbin woke up slowly, rubbing at his eyes as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing, mouth falling open and not making a sound.

He didn’t get a chance to say anything before the doctor came rushing in, standing by Hyunjin’s bedside and checking her vitals first before he spoke.

“You’re in a good, stable condition Hyunjin, it’s nice to see you awake after so long.” The doctor spoke calmly, Hyunjin not responding as she kept looking over at Changbin, trying her best to smile so that she could reassure him that everything was okay but her body was still stiff and achy all over. “I see that you two probably want some time alone, Mr Seo has been here the entire time.” He continued, clearing his throat before ushering the nurse out who had been making sure the IV drip was still secure.

And just like that the silence returned, except this time Changbin was very much awake and still in some state of shock.

“Hi…” Hyunjin whispered, giggling happily when her throat didn’t rebel against her this time. “It’d be nice if I could sit up, it’s a bit uncomfy.” She grumbled, trying to get Changbin to move if he wasn’t going to be speaking to her for now. The elder took the hint and grabbed the remote attached to the bed, pressing a button as the bed moved up, Hyunjin shuffling into position as she took note of the cast on her arm and the bandages she could now feel on her shins.

“Hyunjin you’re… You’re—”

“Alive, yeah, I know.” She deadpanned, causing Changbin to cut himself off with a snort, bringing the chair closer to the bed and wincing as it scraped against the floor. “What exactly happened? How long was I asleep for?” Hyunjin asked, Changbin reaching over to take her hand before he could muster up a reply.

“After you… After you passed out, Felix appeared. It was only for a split second and then everything was gone. The fire, Felix, your trainer, the magic circle… Everything. I called for the ambulance and tried to salvage any burnt stuff that I could but there wasn’t much in the living room that wasn’t ashes by that point. By the time you got to the hospital they were talking about having to resuscitate you and I could barely think and you just looked so small and barely there. It was scary…”

Changbin took in a deep breath, wiping a few stray tears from his eyes as he leaned in even closer to Hyunjin, practically on the bed by that point and Hyunjin would have invited him to sit there too had it not been so cramped.

“You didn’t just sleep Hyunjin, you _died_. You were dead for almost five minutes before they succeeded, I thought you were gone for good. After that they said they didn’t know how long you would be out for, because they had never had to treat a necromancer like you before, they’d never seen or heard of someone like you and it confused the heck out of all of them.” Changbin let out a weak chuckle, Hyunjin squeezing his hand and urging him to continue. “That was three weeks ago, it’s been a while… They moved you into this room two days ago when you started breathing on your own and now, here you are.” Changbin said, voice suddenly quiet again as he smiled at Hyunjin, eyes holding too many emotions for her still tired brain to unpack. But it didn’t really matter in that moment, because Changbin was there and therefore it was all okay.

But there were still thoughts in her head that something wasn’t quite right, there were still questions she needed answered.

“Do you think that, maybe, when I died for a bit, that the curse got lifted?” Hyunjin pondered out loud, looking over at Changbin with a hopeful expression, the elder didn’t have an answer of course, but he nodded nonetheless and the smile he got from Hyunjin in return made everything worth it.

“I hope Jisung is okay, and Chan too.” She said as an afterthought, small pout forming on her lips as she dwelled on them for a moment.

“I’m sure they’re both absolutely fine Hyunjin, you did so well.” Changbin said softly and the next thing Hyunjin knew there was a pair of lips barely brushing against her cheek. “So so well, and I’m so proud of you.” He continued, leaving another kiss, a proper one this time, to the corner of her lips. Hyunjin felt her heart all but burst out of her chest, a tingling warmth spreading underneath her skin.

“I love you!” 

Hyunjin blurted out the words before she realised exactly what she was saying, eyes going wide a second later as she tried to gauge Changbin’s reaction whilst simultaneously trying to calm her own increasing heart rate. The elder suddenly laughed and Hyunjin started to panic, thinking that she’d said the wrong thing at the wrong time, maybe there wasn’t even a right time for these sorts of things? Oh god what had she done?

“I love you too, Hyunjin, if that wasn’t obvious from the kisses. I love you a lot.” Changbin said once his laughter had subsided and the cosy warmth continued to spread.

Changbin loved her. He loved Hyunjin. A girl who never had a soulmate, was never graced with the ability to find a fated partner and live with them until they parted. Changbin _loved_ her.

The tears came slowly at first and then all at once, Hyunjin sobbing as Changbin pulled her gently into his arms, whispering sweet nothings into her ear as he gently swayed them side to side, careful not to snag any of the wires as he did so. They stayed like that for a long while, just hugging and crying - Changbin eventually joined, albeit trying to deny that fact - and telling each other those words over and over again. It never lost its meaning.

“By the way,” Changbin began once they’d both pulled apart, Hyunjin aching a little from the strange position after being led down for almost a month. “You should probably check the news, when you get the chance, I think you’ll like what you see.” Changbin said cryptically, grinning when Hyunjin tilted her head to the side like a confused puppy.

“Can we watch it now, I’m sure the news will be on somewhere.” She mumbled, trying to take Changbin’s phone from where he’d put it beside her bed, but the clunky cast prevented her from doing so. Hyunjin whined and was tempted to throw herself back against the bed in frustration, however she didn’t want to risk hurting herself and decided against it as soon as the idea appeared in her head.

“Let’s watch it then.” Changbin chuckled and took his phone, bringing up the clip he wanted her to see and placing the device down on her lap.

“Breaking news! In a landmark statement, the President has announced that the government is currently in talks to reform the laws and aid surrounding citizens who do not have soulmates. This includes adding in a new clause to criminalise discrimnation against them, as well as providing further aid and support to those who need it. There is also discussion on the education of society about such people, who have often been forgotten about and left behind by the world.

“All of this follows the story of Hwang Hyunjin, who risked her own life as a necromancer and person without a soulmate, to save the life of one of her clients and close friends - Seo Changbin.”

Hyunjin turned off the phone as the news reader moved on to another story, too in shock to comment right away. Everything was happening so fast all of a sudden and Hyunjin didn’t know what to talk about first, she’d only just confessed to Changbin and now the society she lived in was on the precipice of changing for the better.

“That’s… That’s so amazing, I can’t believe it.”

“I had to talk to a lot of people about this, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course I don’t mind! This is the best thing…” Hyunjin breathed out, unable to stop the blinding smile that spread across her face as she looked over to see Changbin smiling right back at her.

“I just said I loved you and that’s the best thing? Thanks a lot.” Changbin teased, cutting off Hyunjin’s protests with another kiss, the girl yawning when he eventually pulled away. “I think you should sleep a bit more for now though, the sooner you rest up and get better, the sooner we can go home.” Changbin said, letting Hyunjin lie back down as he pressed the button on the remote to configure the bed once again.

“Home?” Hyunjin muttered, on the cusp of sleep as she watched Changbin curl back up in his chair, fingers carding through her long hair as gently as possible.

“Yeah, home… If you’d like to move in with me that is?” Changbin said with a bashful grin, Hyunjin nodding and replying with a hum as sleep dragged her under. This time was as peaceful as the last, but the smile on her face made all the difference.

She didn’t need a soulmate to have a home, nor needed one to love. Hyunjin realised that now.

  
“—Hyunjin! Changbin is being mean!”

Jisung’s voice rang through the apartment, the ghost floating over to where Hyunjin was definitely ignoring him whilst attempting to make breakfast. The girl eventually looked up from the eggs she was cooking and stared right at the ghost in question with an unamused expression.

“He’s not letting me watch the cute video of the rabbit washing her face again…” Jisung grumbled, pouting at Hyunjin with the most innocent expression he could muster as Hyunjin only laughed at him. The dramatics in their household was something she would probably never tire of.

“I’ll show it to you later Sungie, just let us have breakfast first.” She told the ghost, putting the scrambled eggs on top of the slices of toast and carrying the two plates back into the bedroom, Jisung hot on her trail. Chan was in the bedroom as well, lounging around by the window and watching the late morning coast on by.

Since everything that had unfolded, the world decided to return to an almost normal. Everything was practically the same, except for the fact that Hyunjin now lived with Changbin, the ghost of her former trainer no longer haunted her and everyone around her seemed to know who she was. It wasn’t ideal when she needed to go shopping or pick up a package from the lobby downstairs. But it was nice to know that society was changing the way it viewed people like her.

Jisung and Chan were completely fine, the former even chattier and more full of life than ever - even if Chan wouldn’t stop commenting about how incorrect that statement was. There was also the additional update from the pair about Felix, Chan having located him in the ghost realm only days after Hyunjin had woken up. The trio of ghosts had become firm friends, and although Hyunjin and Changbin couldn’t see Felix, it was always fun to hear about the strange escapades he got up to with Chan and Jisung.

So yes, life was almost normal, Hyunjin thought to herself as she sat down on the bed next to Changbin, leaning over to peck the man’s lips with a smile on her face.

“I love you.” Changbin whispered, nuzzling their noses together before digging into his breakfast, commenting something about how good the food was but Hyunjin couldn’t decipher it between the eggs in his mouth and her own laughter ringing in the air.

“I love you too Binnie, I love you so much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's my twitter :D : [@acepiri](https://twitter.com/acepiri)  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> here's my twitter :D : [@acepiri](https://twitter.com/acepiri)  
> 


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